The present invention relates to jewelry items with invisible gemstone settings in general and invisible diamond settings in particular.
The term "invisible gemstone setting" is known in the art and refers to a setting of gemstones in which the setting lies beneath the visible surface of the gemstones. To "invisibly" set a large number of gemstones, the approach of the prior art has been to notch the gemstones and to mount them in a setting having two or more parallel walls, with metallic projections, for example, prongs or the like, protruding from these walls for intergaging the notches. Typically, these walls define channels in which the gemstones are set abutting one another in accordance with the invisible mounting method.
To better illustrate the approach of the prior art, a conventional invisible diamond setting within a ring is now described with reference to FIGS. 1-4. FIG. 1 illustrates a ring 10 with an invisible diamond setting 12 made up of a matrix of several rows and columns of diamonds 14. FIG. 2 illustrates that diamonds 14 are inserted in grooves 16 defined by walls 18 prepared in a gemstone region 20 of ring 10. Grooves 16 are either parallel to the short axis of gemstone region 20 as shown in FIG. 3 or the long axis of gemstone region 20 as shown in FIG. 4. Walls 18 are cut so as to prepare a T-shaped cross bar 22 having prongs 24 for intergaging cut-outs 26 formed beneath girdle 28 of diamonds 14 so as to secure diamonds 14 in invisible diamond setting 12. Grooves 16 preferably extend through the plane of gemstone region 20 such that tips 30 of diamonds 14 overlie holes 32 for improving the brilliance of diamonds 14.
The conventional method of assembling a jewelry item with an invisible diamond setting requires the following steps: First, opening an end of gemstone region 20. Second, sliding a row or column of diamonds 14 along grooves 16 so as to fill up gemstone region 20 from its closed end. Thirdly, tapping lip 34 of gemstone region 20 so as to secure the last row or column of diamonds 14 inserted therewithin. Repeating these steps for all the rows or columns until the jewelry item is completed at which time the opened end of gemstone region 20 is closed and jewelry item 10 is polished so as to ensure a smooth surround to invisible diamond setting 12.
A conventional invisible gemstone setting jewelry item suffers from a number of disadvantages. First, casting of a jewelry item with a gemstone region including a recess and walls and preparing T-shaped cross bars is a relatively difficult and therefore costly process. Second, the assembly of the jewelry item requires considerable time of a skilled worker which adds greatly to the overall cost of the jewelry item. And third, the finished jewelry item cannot be readily downsized without disturbing the invisible gemstone setting.
Therefore, there is a need for novel invisible gemstone setting jewelry items which overcomes the disadvantages of conventional invisible gemstone setting jewelry items. Furthermore, there is a need for a mass production technique of assembling jewelry items with invisible gemstone settings so as to reduce the high cost of labor in the assembly of such jewelry items.